RnD and Sparks

So recently I've been doing a bit of RnD whilst finishing off the sparks project. I've been trying to get better acquainted with Maya Fluid Effects. I've used FumeFX before so I have experience with fluid simulations but I've been trying to get used to Maya as I've found it less taxing on my computer and quicker to iterate on. So this is just a quick simulation to get better with it, but I want to get better with it so that I can actually use it for RnD for FX for creating better and more realistic flipbooks. 

Another thing I was working on is using distortion for shockwaves in my effects. It's one of those things that I've found really lacking in my work, I didn't really know a good method for it. From left to right; using a black and white texture in the distortion, using a normal map in the distortion, using a panning texture with a sphere mesh, using a panning texture on a ring mesh. I feel that the one on the far left, using just a black and white texture in the distortion, is the strongest visual impact. A method I will employ in future work, especially with effects that have a strong impact or shockwave like explosions.

This is the final render for the downed wire project I was working on. I created the animation for the wire in Maya, though it's not a procedural animation so it might not be the most effective approach. I then attached the emitter and animated it in matinee. 

What's Keeping Me Busy

So it's been a while I guess, but now that uni's done I'm free to work for myself again. Obviously I've not been working all that hard, but having not seen my family in almost six months means I've had a lot to do since being back. 

But it's nice to have the freedom back again. I took a couple of hours the other day to just work on some idea generation. Admittedly, I still need to work on it but it's given some good starts for projects once I finish the projects for my demo reel. 

Speaking of, here's some of my progress on a couple of projects. First is the base for a downed wire. This is pretty much the particle system done, now I just need to make a wire and make an animation for it and then I can attach the emitter to it.

And second is a simple incense burner. This is practically finished I just need to render it out properly as this was done at a low res for speed and ease. But this was a nice project to work on to learn the basics of flow maps and how to create and implement them. Now this is something that I can take over into other projects as well.

As for what I'm working on now, I'm completely redoing the gas station explosion scene. I'd been working on it for too long and I was feeling like it was going nowhere. So I decided to completely redo it and took this as an opportunity to get myself more comfortable with using fluid sims.